Thankfully, I’m still enjoying the Holiday Season – which means no classes, no work, no real schedules or obligations to speak of. One would think that this also means my tendency for procrastination has temporarily lost its bite: with nothing of sincere importance filling my to-do lists, this is perhaps the perfect time to sit back and say, “this can wait.” This is where the trusty New York Times comes in — about a week ago they posted an article by John Tierny called “Carpe Diem? Maybe Tomorrow.” Tierny’s argument? It’s just as important to be diligent about crossing off pleasure from our to-do lists. And guess what – we’re horrible at it.

If you’re thinking what I was when I first started reading the article – that this Tierny guy is crazy, and there’s no way our society is bad at pursuing pleasure, think about the number of giftcards you’ve let expire. Or the number of get-togethers you’ve pushed back because you were too busy…only to have them pushed back again and again once you realized the temporary busyness wasn’t so temporary. Or – and this is what really got me thinking – think about alllll of your city’s attractions that you have never ever experienced.

Tierny argues that because such acquisitions of pleasure have no real deadlines, we’re liable to keep putting them off and pushing them back. We are rational beings (or at least most of us are, most of the time), and our mental cost-benefit analyses often tempt us to tackle more concrete tasks instead of an abstract thing as pleasure. The result? We keep procrastinating simple enjoyment, we become “fixated on some imagined nirvana,” and the situations through which pleasure can be attained become increasingly idealistic and decreasingly practical. Depressing, I know.

So, what exactly did I take away from all of this? And why in the world did I feel the need to break my holiday blogging silence with a recap of a NYT article? Because it reminded me that making the most of your day doesn’t always have to involve record-breaking levels of productivity. Perhaps it could also mean going to that museum that you’ve never been to, but every tourist visiting your city has – maybe it means walking or biking along the route that you drive everyday, separated from the rest of the world by thin pane of glass and a radio turned up high – maybe it means visiting a nearby city that you’ve always driven through but never to – and maybe, if you’re lucky, it means finally opening that bottle of wine you’ve been holding onto for ages. Create your special occasions this year, don’t wait for them.

Cheers

-S.

Go ahead, read the article (and no, this can’t wait until tomorrow): http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/science/29tier.html

I hope you’re singing the theme song in your head, because I am.

I woke up this morning, and out of pure habit, reached almost immediately for my little red planner. When I opened it up to today’s page, I was struck by two things: 1 the page was empty. and 2 there are only a few pages left. While my emotional reaction to #1 is perfectly easy to describe (ELATION), I found that my reaction to #2 is a little more complicated. I’ve always thought that the ending of one year and beginning of another  is a little bittersweet – on one hand, you’re forced to look back almost nostalgically over what the world has given you over the past year and over what you have, in return, given to the world. It’s sometimes hard, for me at least, to watch this all slip away into the “past” – no longer represented on the calendar on my wall or in the pages of my planner. But, on the other hand, I can never help but to be excited about my next 365 day trip around the Sun and all of the challenges, victories, and defeats this trip will inevitably bring. Like I said, it’s bittersweet.

I started to think about this year though, about 2009, and I realized just how amazing this year has actually been. Maybe “amazing” isn’t the perfect way to describe it, but I can’t think of any single word that encapsulates everything I’ve experienced and everything I’ve felt along the way.

I thought I’d share with you all a “few” (okay, this post is actually really long. sorry) of the things that have made this year so memorable and so life-changing. This list (yes! another list!) is a roughly chronological and truly insane compilation of the the accomplishments I am most proud of… here is my 2009.

-Packed my life into a backpack and two very heavy suitcases and flew to Perugia, Italy to live/study for 4 months (that was, at least, the original plan)

-Moved here:

-Woke up to this view everyday:

-Met one of my closest friends, whom we shall call Kiki

-Traveled to Venice, drank champagne in the middle of Saint Mark’s Square, and took a little trip down the Grand Canal on a gondola.

-Learned the joy of eating slowly. (like a four-hour lunch kind of “slowly”).

-Met a “lovely” french boy. Broke this lovely french boy’s heart.

-Travled to Milan with two fabulous gentlemen, spent the night in the sketchiest hostel known to man, summited the Duomo, attended a rowdy A.C. Milan game, dined in Milan’s China Town, and played for an hour at a makeshift carnival in the middle of the city.

-Met Casimiro.

-Traveled to Rome for the beginning of a whirlwind Spring Break trip, rode a two-person bike/car around the colosseum and to the pantheon (this may or may not have been illegal), missed our flight to Prague, spent the night in the airport, and lived the life of a gypsy for 24 hours.

-Travled to Prague and learned very quickly how foreign of a language czech really is.

-Traveled to Brussels, met Frank, our Norwegian hostel roommate, spent hours in Delerium Tremens, the bar with the world record for the greatest number of different beers, discovered the meaning and consequences of “das boot” (courtesy of Frank), and realized what a disgrace the “eggo” is to the world of waffles.

-Traveled to (and fell in love with) Bruges, marveled at the simplicity of bicycle transportation, bar hopped through torrential downpours, and drank more pints than is possible to remember.

-Ate a dinner with Cas, Kiki, a man/master chef named Paolo, a mystery 50 year old creepo, his tranny girlfriend, enjoyed several bottles of wine (each) and a liter of limoncello….(as painful as it sounds).

-Was visited by my entire family for one week, traveled to Rome, Amalfi (HEAVEN ON EARTH) and Florence, and realized that no matter how exciting your life may be, it’s nothing compared to being able to share experiences with the people you love most.

-Visited Castello del Trebbio, a castle/winery outside of Florence, was offered a job for the summer, accepted, and started making plans to extend my italian adventure.

-Traveled to Paris on a whim with Kiki, watched the light show at the Eiffel Tower, watched Kiki board a plane for the United States, and took a 13 hours train ride back to Italy (rough).

-Moved into Cas and Nini’s apartment, gained approximately 100 lbs from Cas cooking lunch and dinner everyday, listened to hours and hours of coldplay, watched hours and hours of soccer games, and learned the meaning of “livin the dream.”

-Had a little ‘hiccup’ with the Italian government, realized my visa had expired, spoke with members of parliament trying to get a new visa, failed, almost got deported, and had to back out on the job at the castle. Sobbing ensued until Cas poured me a glass of wine.

-Headed back to the United States two and a half months later than originally planned and ate the world’s most delicious Chipotle burrito upon landing.

-Realized I was homeless and moved in with my lovely brother for the summer. God bless him.

-Decided I want to go to law school.

-Enrolled in the most insane school schedule known to man.

-Moved back to the lovely Boulder, Colorado and fell right back in love with it.

-Got an internship doing marketing and PR for a Denver law firm, confirmed that I want to go to law school, and realized how much I hate commuting.

-Worked harder than I ever have before, became more exhausted than I thought possible, and alllllmost gave up….

-But decided to kick ass instead (and by this, I mean I survived).

[If you're still reading, serious kudos to you and your eyeballs]

It’s a good thing Thanksgiving isn’t the only day of the year you’re allowed to be thankful for everything that’s happened in your life, and that New Years isn’t the only the day to look back and to look forward. I have so much to be thankful for this year, it’s almost difficult to comprehend – many times it’s even difficult to convince myself that this all really did happen. I stand here a much different person than I was 365 days ago, and it’s all because of this list and the people in it (and many many others). If that doesn’t make you excited for 2010, I don’t know what will.

So what were the highlights of your last trip around the Sun? The things that you’re most proud of? The new paths that you’ve forged? The accomplishments that separate the 2008-you from the 2010-you? Whatever they are, I hope they make you sad to take down your current calendar and excited to put up the new one.

Cheers

-S.

“Sarah, what are you doing tonight?” “Memorizing a stack of 200 note cards…just livin’ the dream.”

“Sarah, what are your dinner plans?” “mmmm I think I still have some cereal left…just livin’ the dream.”

I was reminded today, though, of a certain video that almost makes me regret my flagrant use of such a great phrase. I realize that this video has already been circulated around the web for quiiiite some time, and that the chances that many of you have already seen it are therefore fairly high — but I can’t pass up the opportunity to share with you the ONE person who is unquestionably “livin’ the dream.”

Meet Matt. He’s a 32-year-old guy who, after realizing his career had turned into some sort of unbearable corporate gridlock, decided to save up all his pennies and travel the world. What’s even better is that one day, in some random country in some random corner of the world, his friend, armed with a video camera, told him to do “that dance.” You see, Matt only knows one dance….and it is very umm, “unique.” This dance, though, was a hit, and him and his friend started posting videos of Matt dancing in each places they visited. Stride Gum soon found out about these little videos…and offered Matt quite the proposal: they would pay for him to travel all across the globe – covering all seven continents – and all he had to do was dance. Like I said, “livin the dream.”

Safe to say that if I was given the opportunity to be any other person in the world, I just might chose to be Matt. His “livin the dream” totally trumps mine.

Cheers

-S.

I love making a list, I love the sticky note that the list goes on, I love my favorite go-to pen that I write the list with (Thanks Uncle Eric), I planning to cross things off the list, I love actually crossing things off the list, and I LOVE crumpling up the list and throwing it in the trash. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Here’s the thing, though. All my lists lately have had a fun rating of approximately zero. That’s what school and work does to you – it sucks the fun out of making lists. I have all of these amazing sticky note pads just waiting to bring joy into my life, just waiting to have my go-to pen scribble little triumphant checkmarks onto them…I feel like I’ve let them down.

This is all about to change though. I’m about to restore my faith in lists and the joy that they bring to the world (or at least my world). I present to you the most JOYFUL list I can possibly thing of: Things to Accomplish over Christmas Break.

1. Convince all other members of the Davis family that it is, in fact, MY TURN to put the angel on the tree (don’t let the pictures from last year fool you — i’m SURE Becca actually had the honors)

2. Partake in serious cuddle sessions with my two favorite gentlemen: Gus and Humphrey (see photo).

3. Eat cookies. Lots of them. The kind with mounds of frosting and sprinkles. No, really – I plan to gain approximately 20 lbs, and I’m SERIOUSLY looking forward to it. That’s why we invented New Years Resolutions, right?

4. Finally learn the family recipe for Christmas Eve dinner’s oyster stew. This can’t be that complicated — it’s pretty much just slimy canned oysters and milk, right??? Either way, tradiiiitiiioonnnn.

5. Avoid another Christmas Eve house fire. Been there. Done that.

6. Find a dog bone in my stocking. Yes, this has happened EVERY christmas morning since age 7 (I made this number up – but I swear, it’s been a looooooong time since bone #1). If you’re wondering why this is a part of my christmas morning routine…ask Santa.

7. Win several games of Apples to Apples.

8. DOMINATE a game of risk.

9. Powderhorn (google it).

10. (the MOST important) Enjoy several bottles of wine and hours of conversation with my six “best” friends: Mom, Dad, Trev, Becca Boo, and Krissy. Really, this little reunion can’t happen soon enough.

Consider the faith restored…I’ll keep you posted on the checkmarks : )

What’s your christmas to-do list???

Cheers

-S.

Photo Credit: Ashlee Langholz - http://www.curiositydotseven.blogspot.com - http://www.photoblog.com/myview

As of today, however, my faith in the world wide web has officially been restored. I found a gem.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to a little project called PostCrossing. In 2005, a Portuguese student created this website with a very simple goal: He wanted to connect people across the world through postcards, independent of their location, gender, age, race, or beliefs. As of September of this year, more than 3 MILLION postcards have been sent between strangers (or new friends, depending on your perspective) in all corners of the globe.

The process is very simple. You register on the website, create a profile with basic information about your life, interests, hobbies, etc., and PostCrossing sends you the address of someone, somewhere who’s waiting to hear from you. There are no rules dictating what you have write on your postcard or even the language in which you have to write it – you could share personal details of your life, or you could simply wish them happiness and remind them to laugh at least once every day. It’s completely up to you. In return, your address will be given to someone somewhere, and the web of connections starts to grow.

Today I sent a postcard to Evelyn in Ratingen, Germany and to Ying Xing in Tianja City, China. Tomorrow I’m sending one to Christina in Kirchdorf, Austria.

The way I see, there are almost 7 BILLION people living on this planet. 7 billion. That’s 7 billion people with lives and families and children and friends and careers and hobbies and interests and passions and regrets and fears and hopes and dreams – just like you and me. I will never ever be able to meet more than a smalllll fraction of these people. I will never be able to personally witness more than a small fraction of these and hopes and dreams. But that doesn’t mean these people don’t exist – it doesn’t mean they’re not “out there.”

A postcard may sound simple, and perhaps that’s why I love this whole concept so much — But with help from this website, these “simple” postcards, these little rectangles of paper with scribbled messages, have connected 3 MILLION people so far who “didn’t exist” to each other prior to opening their mailbox. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of something like that?

I hope everyone’s week is going well – and I hope you think about sending a postcard or two : )

Cheers

-S.

www.Postcrossing.com

photo: Corbis

Scores won’t be released for about a month (which baffles me – the whole thing is scantron), but I am seriously considering having a bonfire with all of my hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pages of prep materials in the meantime. Take that, Kaplan.

Anyway, just wanted to pop in to say a quick Hi. Another busy week starts tomorrow, and a gooood night’s sleep is definitely in order. Thought I’d share a little video I stumbled upon the other day…why? because it’s fun, and nobody’s life is too full of fun things.

While I can barely begin to explain how insane life has been recently, I am happy to report my three biggest accomplishments: not developing any ulcers, not contracting piggy flu (despite a house chock full of germies), and not having a heart attack due to caffeine overdose. Feel free to applaud as I gratefully take a bow.

Busy as I may be, this blog does cross my mind fairly frequently. My original intention with this website was to have a forum through which I could share my “adventures.” I was determined, you see, to prove to myself and to my friends and to my family and to the world, that Sarah Davis is a painfully exciting individual. Go ahead, read my “bio” – it’ll tell you that I’m committed to warding off a boring lifestyle, to seeking new challenges, and to – quite simply – being the personification of this blog’s title (you know you want to google it).

What I found, though, is that in the midst of 21 credit hours, daily commutes to Denver, and piles of pesky to-do lists that never seemed to be completely checked off, I had become quite the opposite of my goal – or so it seemed. If you are one of the friends that I haven’t hung out with in months, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you are one of the family members with whom I’ve recently had a phone conversation filled with more yawns than words, we’re also on the same page.

Part of the reason, then, for my little “blogging hiatus” is what I thought was a lack of things to say. What do you write about a trip to the library or another three-hour practice LSAT test? What’s there to share about a day filled with meetings and appointments that, to be quite honest, require several cups of coffee to get through? I thought nothing – I thought my ‘mission’ had just about failed.

Ahhh, but you see — this is where I was mistaken.

During my eight hours of driving to and from Grand Junction this past week, I realized something quite simple: I am very very lucky. Yes, this semester is difficult. Very very difficult. But just think for a second about how many people leave everything, quit their jobs, move to new place, and try to forge a new beginning simply because they don’t feel challenged – because they can get through their entire day without even really thinking – because they can’t even remember the last time they felt personally motivated to succeed – because in the back of their mind, they have a lingering feeling that they have more to offer than their routine, that they’re selling themselves short.

Yes, this semester is difficult. But I am challenged Every Single Day. I wake up each morning to a new list of tasks that, despite my grumblings, were designed in order to truly propel me forward. I spend each morning and afternoon and evening testing myself, pushing myself, and defining for myself and the world the real extent of my abilities. I go to bed each night – and this is the best part – absolutely exhausted and absolutely certain that I have grown. Every Single Day.

So to everyone who’s in my position, and I know there’s tons, the mission hasn’t failed. It just looks a little different. The “adventures” that I get to post on the internet don’t necessarily involve camping trips or hiking excursions or spontaneous afternoons at the reservoir like I had originally planned. But, come on, when you lay your head on the pillow at night and you can literally feel your brain buzzing, you’ve gotta be doing something right.

Cheers

-S.

Thought I’d share a little video with everyone of him “performing” one of my favorite tunes. This clip is funny, though, considering it’s a recording session taped for some AOL radio gig — He spent a solid five minutes at the concert talking about how much he hated radio gimics. Sorry Ray, but this video is just too good to not share.

She spoke at Naropa University in Boulder in order to kick off a two-day symposium on human rights. While her urgings of the United Nations to center its policy toward Iran on human rights were nothing short of captivating, it was this woman’s life story that held my attention most, long after the speech was over.

At 31, Shirin became Iran’s first female judge. She supported the Islamic Revolution in 1978 and the overthrow of the Shah. Because of her reactionary beliefs, she was soon demoted to a clerk position in the same courtroom she had once presided over . With women stripped of nearly all rights, it took Shirin over a decade to climb back up the ranks, finally securing a position as a human rights attorney. At one point, she was imprisoned for her work. On another occasion, as she was digging through government documents for a double-murder case, she found the official authorization for her own assassination. And she kept fighting.

One of her most impassioned topics of conversation was the debated legitimacy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She spoke of the dangers that lie in many Islam leaders’ desire for a separate ‘Islamic Declaration of Human Rights.’ Her argument was simple: “How many declarations do we need?” Through her translator, she gave a moving reminder that beyond religion and faith and nationality and ethnicity, we are all simply human. We all deserve to be fought for and not forgotten.

Shirin believes that the protests that followed this summer’s election and still continue today will continue to gain power and legitimacy. In her closing remarks, she stated simply, “I know the people will be victorious.”

While I sat in awe throughout most of this speech, the feeling that I took away from it was incredibly real. These wounded and heartbroken people that you hear about on TV and read about in newspapers? They’re real people. The death counts that are sensationally reported almost everyday? They were real people, as are the families and friends they left behind. And the heroes like Shirin are real too, which is perhaps the most important part. There are people like Shirin and her colleagues who have risked their entire lives to fight for something very simple: human rights. All the while, millions, perhaps billions of people sit back and never blink an eye.

No, we can’t all fly to the Middle East to protest or represent the forgotten in the courtroom. And while, yes, politics may have muddied the waters (and the media), we can all still stay informed, engaged, and aware. Not doing so would simply be a disservice to Shirin Ebadi and all the heroes of the world.

Cheers

-S.

Half joking, I responded by telling her that it indeed IS spinning and that I am just an amazing actress. She did not, however, find this to be as amusing as I hoped and proceeded to lecture me for 20 minutes on the value of “downtime” and “asking for help.” Mostly because this lady was now on the verge of making me late for work, but also because – as most of you know – “asking for help” often makes me lightheaded, I did not exactly receive her message with open arms. In the last moments of the conversation, as she tapped her pencil on my knee to re-grab my attention (OH NO SHE DIDN’T), she said it: “You know, Sarah, you can’t do everything. And even if you’re going to be stubborn and try, you need to figure out a way to get your head to stop spinning.”

Deprived of sleep AND caffeine, my initial reaction was to politely (and yet, obviously combatively) tell her that “Thank you, but I already have one mother. And she’s prettier AND nicer than you.” Miraculously I was able to resist this temptation, and my real mother will be glad to hear that I instead shook her hand, insisted I was late and really must go, and flashed a warm smile.

For the rest of the day, however, I could not get this woman out of my head. After a few cups of coffee I realized that maybe – just maybe – a small part of what she said was true. We all need things from time to time that “stop our heads from spinning,” and perhaps I haven’t exactly been dutiful in finding those “things.” At least that’s what I thought on Friday.

Then came Saturday…which, I’m glad to report, was perfect. It started simply – with a screaming alarm clock at 7am, with yogurt and granola, with green tea, with laced up running shoes, and a fully charged iPod. The weather was beautiful, and the town even more so. Leaves are changing, the air is chilly and crisp, and at 7:30 am, the hoards of obnoxiously stupid college kids are at bay. It was in the first 10 minutes of my run that I re-discovered one of those anti-spinning “things” : Boulder Creek. Running along this path is nothing short of a moment of “zen”. As I ran past fly fishermen, full strollers, drenched dogs, and fellow early-morning exercisers, I could feel my head clearing stride by stride. The spinning was starting to slow.

At the end of my run, legs numb, chest pounding, I found myself in the middle of one of my favorite places in the entire world: the saturday morning Boulder farmer’s market. I glanced across the rows of tents, the tables of food, and the sea of people, and the spinning slowed a little more. In what I can only attribute to an act of God, I remembered that I had stuffed 10 dollars in my iPod armband, just in case. Ahhh, let the grocery shopping being. Apples, Tomatoes, Bread, Tortillas, and a smattering of free samples later, my job was done. Arms full of goodies, I began the trek back home as I intently munched on what can only be described as THE BEST APPLE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. The spinning slowed a little bit more .

When I found myself home, standing in our front yard, I realized what a productive day it had already been. It wasn’t productive because I had read or even opened any text books, or because I had written a essay or a personal statement, but because I had allowed life to get quiet for a while. The stress melted, the spinning stopped, and the contentment settled it…not because of any great event or because I had gone out of my way to escape obligations and commitments, but rather because I tuned out all the noise for just a few hours and let only the most important things filter through.

So to answer your question, Ms. Psychology Advisor, it’s early morning runs, the boulder creek path, farmers markets, and apples. That’s how I keep my head from spinning.

Cheers

-S.